Holy Cannibalism: Why Jesus Wants Us All to be Cannibals

I’ve officially lost my mind… (I think?) I know because of the title of this post. I wondered if I should even go there. But I did. So welcome to my brand of crazy. 😉 Before you start interceding on my soul’s behalf, I’ll show you what clued me into the fact Jesus loves cannibalism.

I was reading John 6 in the car line (because what better place to harness your inner Holy Spirit than the car line?? Amiright or amiright??), and I came to verses 51 and 52.

51 I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats this bread will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.”52 Then the Jews began to argue sharply among themselves, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” (emphasis mine)

Um, yes, Mr. Jewish Men. I asked the same thing. Couldn’t Jesus have reworded that sentence? Cannibalism isn’t exactly – ahem! – “becoming” this day and age. Like the good little Christian girl I try to be, I attempted to push cannibalistic thoughts away. Though, no matter how much I tried, Hannibal Lector’s face kept creeping back. Especially after I kept reading…

53 Jesus said to them, “Very truly I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.54 Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day.55 For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink.56 Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in them.57 Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me.” (John 6:51-57) (emphasis mine)

I finally surrendered. Because all I could hear was Dr. Lector saying, “Hellooooo, Clarice…” #creepster

So I asked myself what any freak normal human would ask:

“I wonder what nutritional value the human body holds?”

(No lie, y’all. And please don’t judge. I swear these are not typical thought patterns for me. I don’t know what happened in that car line. I may be crazy, but I’m not Hannibal Lector crazy.)

So I asked my smart friend, Siri, this question and she took me to Wikipedia. (Which, by the way, I fully understand is not the most reliable source. Plus, it has some disturbing folktales and stuff about cannibalism. I recommend not searching the term there.)

As I scrolled, I happened across a study saying “people carry a gene that evolved as protection against … brain diseases,” and how ingesting brain tissue/blood increases protection of brain tissue.* The flesh protects us from disease of the mind.

Hold on. Are you reading this?? Allow me to re-type that last sentence.

I’m not so down for Satan’s brand of cancer. So I’m focusing on prevention.

Would you join me? Let’s all be Holy Cannibals together, what do ya say? I’m pretty sure our boy, Jesus, would approve. 😉

*For the record, the study I quoted was later deemed inconclusive. Also, when I went back to re-read the article, it turns out I mis-read the information. HA! I soooooo would! 😉 But you know what? The way I originally understood it worked well enough for me. The point of this post wasn’t to prove or disprove any facts regarding cannibalism, but instead to share the importance of daily communion with Jesus Christ. 😉 *